"All here for weapons bow in."

The young dark-haired man sighed as he watched behind the glass panes separating the back lounge from the main dojo.  He was exhausted from today's routine and was now taking a break.  It was nice to sit back and watch the other students practice their weapon training, but today he had some studying to do for a physics test coming up in three days.  He opened his book to read through it, then looked up again to see the teacher talking to a certain young short-haired Asian brunette, who was dressed in the same karate garb as everyone else.

The sensai was rather surprised.  "Ferishi, you've returned?"

"I've been busy for a while."  The girl, Ferishi, answered.  "I'm sorry.  I have some catching up to do."

"Well, we're glad to have you back."  The dojomaster smiled.  "If you want, you can go right back in and get started right now."

"Thanks, teach!"  She hugged him in happiness.  "You're the best!"

"Well, as you know, it's weapons training at the moment."  The teacher laughed.  "Which art shall you be practicing tonight?"

"Hmm..."  Ferishi gazed over the weapon rack.  On it were several weapons ranging from scimitars to axes.  "I'm having trouble deciding between the sword, the staff, or the spear.  I think I'll go with the sword, tonight."

"Very well then.  If you need help with your form, you just simply have to ask."  The teacher bowed to her then went back to correct another student's style.

The young man whom had been watching all this time decided to stand up and talk to her, since he recognized her from before.  As Ferishi spun the sword around almost in a dancelike motion, he entered the dojo and walked near to her.

She noticed him almost immediately.  "Bremare?"

"Ferishi, it's been a long time."  Bremare remarked.  "I haven't seen you since your parents sent you away to that school for the gifted or whatever it was."

"Yes, that..."  Ferishi glanced around.  "Hmm.  Well, I'm back now.  That 'school' was just... ick.  How have you been doing?  Keeping up with your training here?"

"Yea, I'm still having a bit of trouble."  Bremare held up his arm, which was rather sore from the day's exercises.  "I sadly don't have too much time to keep up with my stretches, what with my studies and all."

"Did you ever graduate from basics?"

"Handset, short form."  Bremare replied with a smile.  "Fear me!"

Ferishi laughed at his sarcastic command, then commented with a smile of her own.  "Well, I bet you could get farther in both your studies and your martial ability with just a bit more effort."

"I'm trying as hard as I can, really.  I mean, look at you."  He grinned.  "You're obviously not putting much 'effort' in at the moment."

"Ack!"  Ferishi had a look of surprise as she realized she just wasted a good five minutes talking to Bremare without practicing.  "Just like you to distract me like that.  You're always doing that."

"Ah, I'm sorry about that."  The young man apologized.  "Should I be leaving?"

"Oh no, feel free to stay."  The sword went flying in a circular motion, but Ferishi wasn't satisfied with the performance.  She stabbed it forward a few times for good measure.  "I'll just remember to keep my concentration this time."

"Okay then."  Bremare watched as Ferishi did a few more moves with the sword before a thought came to his mind.  "Though, I'm curious.  It has been a really long time, hasn't it?  Were you busy?  I thought you were in-training for something that transcended martial arts."

With that question, Ferishi's routine abruptly stopped.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

The girl sighed.  "No, Bremare.  It's not you.  I didn't make it in."

"Oh?  Why's that?  That's really strange because I know that you can do anything when you put your mind to it."

"Thanks."  Ferishi smiled a little, then turned around and looked at a training dummy in front of her and frowned.  "But no matter how hard I tried, I still got rejected.  They said I was too Freudian or something.  Can you believe that?!?"

In anger, she thrust her sword forward several times and ran the dummy through.

Bremare put his hand to his chin.  "Hmm... imagine that."

"I don't see why they singled me out."  Ferishi muttered.  "There was this other guy who was rumoured to be in love with his teacher, the female authority figure, for crying out loud.  A teacher who was named after a flower.  Now THAT'S Freudian.  But nooooooo, for some reason I'm the one that didn't get in.  Bah!"

The sword stabbed right through the dummy, leaving a rather gaping slit.

"I'm really sorry to hear about that."  The young man stared in surprise at the dummy as he gave his apology, though.  Especially since he still remembered the scene of the girl hugging the dojo master only a few minutes ago, even if just briefly.

"It's just... I don't know what to do."  Ferishi put the sword down.  "My parents were really disappointed, to say the least.  I haven't been feeling very well the past few days."

"I don't know what to say."  Bremare was stumped.  He changed the subject.  "I'm glad to see you again, though."

The girl smiled.  "Thanks, Bremare.  I guess we have a lot of catching up to do."

"True."  He returned the smile.  "Perhaps over dinner then?"

"Sure thing."  Ferishi happily picked up the sword and spun it around a little.  "Just let me finish up my training session then.  I really appreciate this."

"Appreciate what?"

"Oh, everything, Bremare."  Ferishi beamed.  "Everything."

"What I am telling you, I haven't even told your partner Juli, yet.  Don't worry.  This is a special room I designed long ago when I first joined Shadowlaw.  I don't know if they moniter every single conversation that takes place in Shadowlaw's base, Mrigranka, but if they do, they won't be able to hear us here.  Remember, we never had this conversation."

"Okay, Dr. Yamoto.  But why are you telling me this?"

"Because you asked."

"Oh.  I guess that would make sense.  This is so sudden, though.  I've never known you that well before."

"Ah... I've been... watching you, I guess.  As stalkative as it sounds.  It was... inevitable, since you were Juli's partner and she's such a good friend of mine, now.  I guess the reason for this is only recently did we decide to talk to each other."

"I... guess that's a good enough explanation.  Thanks, Dr. Yamoto."

"Oh please, here you don't have to follow formalities.  Call me Bremare.  Care for some wine?"

"Wine?  Oh, no thanks.  And you didn't tell Juli any of this?"

"Juli... she knew not to ask."

"I... I'm sorry, Dr. Yamoto.  Erm, I mean, Bremare."

"No, no, it's alright.  It's about time I've finally faced the facts and talk about this.  I guess I'll tell Juli about it too when I have the time.  Anyway, I guess you're wondering why I designed this place.  Juli did, but like I said, she decided not to ask about it because she knew that whatever it was, it hurt me to talk about.  I obviously didn't install this room just so I could talk to myself, of course.  I did it... for her..."

"Thank you, Bremare."

"It was nice to catch up on things again."  The young man replied.  "I guess it's time for me to get going."

"Maybe same time, tomorrow night?"  Ferishi asked.  "I really enjoyed tonight.  I'd hate for it to be the only one."

He paused, then looked at her.  "Same time tomorrow?  Well... sure thing.  That physics exam can wait."

She was an angel, descended from the heavens.  Ending my cold harsh lonely winter and bringing about spring.  Starting a new year.  A new life of happiness.

A night out on the town.

"Hahaha!  Bremare, that's hilarious!"  Ferishi laughed as Bremare escorted her to her doorstep.

"Well, it's true!"  Bremare replied, withholding his own laughter but not doing too good of a job of it.  "Imagine that.  How on earth will historians explain to the world how Pokemon singlehandedly made Japan the most powerful nation in the world?"

"That's so ridiculous!"  The girl happily joked as she grabbed onto her boyfriend's arm.  "You're right!  It would have been better if we just won the war.  Then the students of the future wouldn't laugh out loud during history class when they read about how Japan got revenge via the great Pokemon takeover!"

"Of course!"  Bremare chimed in.  "Not that it really mattered since our nation managed to get away with both."

She became everything to me.

A beautiful day in the park.

He handed her a flower.  "See it, Ferishi?  You can stop to smell the roses.  Life doesn't have to be filled with nothing but concentrated effort."

She held the rose, and then she held him.  "Bremare, I think I've found what the best thing in life really is.  And it's much better than a simple little rose."

And everything I did was everything to her...

"So you built this room for her, too?  I... didn't know you were that kind of guy, Dr. Bremare."

"Yes.  Even after joining Shadowlaw, she was the focus of my life.  So I wanted to make sure we could have a place to call our own and just our own, and not all the assimilations in the world would be able to cloud it."

"You didn't think that Shadowlaw would have actually 'clouded' it, did you?"

"Not really.  It was more a semantic thing than anything.  But that's what made this room so special."

"Oh, I see.  So what made you join Shadaloo, anyway?  I mean, it's not everyday that new people join Lord Bison's cause thanks to all that damn propaganda about how Shadowlaw's an evil organization hell bent on conquering corrupting everyone's souls.

"Well, we are an organization hell bent on conquering the world and corrupting everyone's souls."

"Obviously!  But that still doesn't explain the 'evil' part.  And corrupting's such a harsh word."

"True, true..."

The doorbell rang.  And opportunity was knocking.  Ferishi opened up the door and was greeted by another girl her age with two braided tails in her hair, who was wearing an extravagant Oriental priestess dress.  Behind her was a rather balding old man in a lab coat with white hair.

The Oriental girl nodded.  "Good day, Ferishi."

Ferishi was stunned.  She could barely mutter a thing.  "Jen-Ya..."

"Why are you shocked?  Aren't you happy to see an old friend?"  Jen-Ya calmly replied.

"Well, of course I am."  She stuttered, then regained her composure.  "Hey, where's Marina and Aela?"

"They... will be with us eventually.  But for now they declined.  Marina complained that she was getting bad vibes that saddened the angels with it and Aela didn't want anything to do with it."

"It?  What's it?"

"An invitation.  One that I am giving you right now."  Jen-Ya matter of factly stated.  "If you wish and prove yourself, the new Third Eye might be willing to allow you in."

"They will?   Hmph!"  Ferishi annoyedly put her hands on her hips and sarcastically stated, "I thought I was too freudian for them."

"We are... currently undergoing some structoral renovations and a change of leadership."  The Taoist priestess explained.  "In fact, one can sorta argue that the new leadership is quite... Freudian, too."

"Structoral renovations?  Change of leadership?"  Ferishi blinked.

The visitor's expression became rather annoyed.  She coughed.  "Yes, structoral renovation and a change of leadership.  Burrowing under the ground and taking on a rather dark tone."

Ferishi blinked again.  "Wha?  They get a new basement?"

Jen-Ya slapped her forehead in annoyance, then glared at Ferishi.  "I'm dissappointed, Ferishi.  You haven't been keeping up with your studies of bird language at all.  I've been... mistaken.  Perhaps it isn't time yet.  We will be leaving you alone then."

Jen-Ya and the old man turned around to leave with a shocked Ferishi staring at them.  The shock very soon turned to anger.  "So that's it?!?"  Ferishi yelled at them as they left.  "You're just going to come over here to tell me that I'm not good enough?!  Fine!  Be that way!  I don't need your damn metaphysical poltergeist head-exploding crud or your damn bird language anyway!!!  My fiance's a master of physics and history and his hard facts are much better than your damn voodoo magic, anyday of the week!!!"

Jen-Ya and the old man abruptly stopped.  Did she hit a nerve?

The Oriental girl turned around.  "Wait, a master of physics?"

"Huh?"  Ferishi stared in surprise.  "Well, yea, Bremare's doing very well in his studies.  He's also into genetics and working on several of his own theories, even."

The old man broke in.  "Genetics?"

"Perhaps I've been mistaken yet again."  Jen-Ya commented.  "Where is this fiance of yours?  Can we talk to him?"

"Sure, I guess.  Where is he?  Well, we were having lunch together today.  In fact, he's..."  Ferishi turned around and looked at Bremare, who had come over upon hearing her yell at Jen-Ya.  "He's right here, actually."

"Can I help you?"  Bremare asked.

Jen-Ya looked at the old man with her, and the two nodded.  The old man walked up to Bremare.  "Bremare, is it?  Developing your own genetic theories?  I am Professor Senoh Hawlson.  I am a scientist that conducts research for a certain new fast-growing organization.  I have a proposal for you..."

"You were invited to join Shadowlaw?"

"Actually, they sorta tried the blackmail thing first.  Ferishi almost ended up getting kidnapped until they realized that I was interested in joining voluntarily.  You should have seen the look on Doctor Senoh's face.  He was pretty embarassed."

"Ah, so you did join voluntarily.  I heard that you did but I wasn't sure."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, Juli told me that you didn't exactly like Sir Bison very much."

"Oh, that.  Well, it's true that I do think he can be rather hard to deal with."

"Sir Bison has to be strict.  We can't have an 'evil' underground organization run by chaos, can we?"

"Perhaps."

"I don't mean any offense, but if you dislike him so much, then why did you decide to join Shadowlaw?"

"Hmm... he might not be the most affable person in the world, but we share the same ideals, for the most part.  And obviously, I'd definately not be able to lead the path to that goal nearly as well as he could.  It's just that sometimes I wonder if perhaps there should be someone else..."

"But... only Sir Bison has the charisma and the intelligence to lead Shadowlaw!  I definately can't think of anyone else who even comes close, that's for sure."

"Hahaha, you might be right.  Maybe I'm just setting impossible expectations that are way too high.  Sorta like how M. Bison seems to do that, sometimes.  I really can't think of anyone else who'd be better for the task.  I suppose no one's perfect.  I had to admit that Bison at least does know how to run and inspire an underground organization very well..."

"Can you believe the nerve of that Jen-Ya?"  Ferishi scowled as the couple entered the main auditorium in Mrigranka, where several other young radicals, disillusional visionaries, and disgruntled postal workers were excitedly talking to each other about bringing about a new age into the world, obtaining newfound power, or getting zee mate.  "She placed a damn hex on me just so she could kidnap me and use me to blackmail you into joining!"

"Haha,"  Yamoto laughed.  "Still, you had to admit that the look on Senoh's face when he realized that I was actually genuinely interested was priceless."

Ferishi's scowl turned to a grin.  "That's true.  It was really funny, wasn't it?  Jen-Ya's wasn't much better!"

"I'm curious to see what this M. Bison guy's plans are."  Bremare remarked.  "You said that you knew him before?"

"Well, I didn't know him, but I've seen him before."  Ferishi commented.

The entire crowd milled uncomfortably in the cramped auditorium. Aspiring mad scientists (we're not evil, we're misunderstood!), disgruntled postal workers (get in line. Now <click>. Or shall my M-16 do the talking?), somewhat delusional visionaries (ice-cream shall determine the future of humanity!) and angry bored rebels (get lost you <censored>) formed a voilatile cocktail of wildly disparate individuals who had come to hear Bison's spiel on Shadoloo. Tempers flared, people screamed, fists flew and chaos reigned. At least until the man himself took to the podium. As one, the gathering hushed, awaiting the words from the man they hoped to serve one day.

Fenrir smiled as she saw him.  "Well well... if it isn't Freudian boy, M. Bison, himself.  Huh?   Bremare, are you jealous?"

"Why are you looking at him like that?"  Bremare asked.

"I'm surprised."  Fenrir stated with a smile.  "He's gotten more handsome since I last saw him.  But don't worry, Bremare.  You know I love you."

As she hugged him, Bremare muttered something about annoyance with love for authority figures and Freud as M. Bison prepared to give his speech.

"Greetings gentlemen, not-so-gentle men and ladies of all persuations. I am M Bison and I am here today to tell you about a new world. My organization, Shadoloo, is dedicated to bringing down the false pretenses of democracy that pervade the civilized world. No more politicians making false promises, no deceiving yourself that your vote has meaning, no more viscious cycle of birth-school-work-death! Together, we will forge a better world from the ashes of the old. A world of true freedoms where the only law is 'do what thou wilt'. Today I am offering you all a chance to be the new Lords and Ladies of creation, all you need do is to cast aside your nets and follow me. With you by my side, we shall work towards a brighter tommorrow for all of us!"

The mad scientists were already designing schemes to take over the world, the postal workers and angry bored rebels decided that this was the perfect oppurtunity to bust some heads while getting paid and the visionaries had stars in their eyes. Bison's charisma coupled with his Psycho Power swayed the crowd even before he had begun speaking. They would follow him to Hell itself, even if some of the visionaries did think that he needed a better speech writer.

"I remember that speech!  I got to see it after some people from Shadaloo took me off the streets.  It was the greatest thing I've ever heard in my life."

"Haha, it was definately impressive.  Despite my initial doubts, it made me decide that Shadowlaw was the best option.  The only way to bring the world to the greater good away from the foolish cesspool of lies and corruption that it was today."

"That's exactly what I thought when Shadowlaw took me in!  Course, rescuing me from the cold homeless hard streets, but Lord Bison saved me in so many more ways then that."

"Hmm... I would say the same for me, but the greatest thing in my life at that time still overshadowed it."

"Ferishi, right?"

"Yes, Ferishi.  Even after joining Shadaloo, she was still the main focus of my life.  Unfortunately, her time in Shadaloo wasn't as happy as mines was."

"Dr. Yamoto, we will put you in charge of physics and robotics first."  Senoh stated as the young scientist glanced around a large computer area that had several manufacturing conveyor belts for testing purposes.  Several other scientists were already there, observing things, inputting data into the computer, and taking notes down on notepads.  "If you wish, you may start on the inflatable expendable soldier project.  If you do a good job, you shall advance up to the genetics research where you will have all the tools you could ever want to help you test your research, whether it is money, technology, or..."

"Or live human subjects."

"Yes, live human subjects."  Senoh muttered.  "But if that should ever be the case, do realize that unlike a certain scientist who's projects you were very interested in, we do not have a literally countless amount of expendable subjects for you to test on.  Underground organizations have to be resourceful and all."

"Oh, don't worry about."  Bremare smiled.  "I won't make the same mistakes and just experiment irrationally like that Mendel did.  He had the right idea, but his execution was terribly flawed.  Obviously the fool never heard about the term, recycling."

"Yes, well, quite."  Senoh was muttering again.  "Ahem.  I suppose that's ample motivation for you then.  I will leave you to your work now."

The old man went to observe some other things in the large room as Bremare eagerly gazed around the area, then turned to the girl behind him.  "Isn't this great, Ferishi?  I get to work towards a unified world AND realize all my genetic theories at once.  It's a dream come true!  Heck, it's two dreams come true."

Ferishi responded by dropping two buckets of soapy water to the floor which Bremare didn't even notice at first.  They hit the ground with a resounding thud.

Bremare blinked.  "Ferishi, is something wrong?"

"That damn Jen-Ya gave me custodian duty.  Can you believe that?!?"  Ferishi scowled.  "What's worse is she didn't even let me get to be the head custodian.  She made me the custodian's apprentice for crying outloud!  Did you even SEE the custodian?  That guy is EVIL!  He makes me leave the toilet seats up in the ladies' room just for 'the sheer evilness of it all'!"

"Evil is in the eyes of the beholder."  Bremare remarked.  "Still, Ferishi, I must admit, that does sound pretty evil..."

Senoh noticed their conversation.  "What would you expect?  Shadowlaw isn't a happy carebear organization.  With evil organizations come evil mad scientists like you and I.  It's only logical that the custodians are evil, too."

"If you say so..."  Dr. Yamoto shrugged, before looking at his fiance again.  "Ferishi, I'm sorry about this."

"No, Bremare, it's all right."  Ferishi shrugged.  "I have a pending application in the armed forces where Jen-Ya can stop playing her silly pranks on me.  She always does stuff like this."

"Armed forces?  Isn't that dangerous?"

Ferishi shrugged.  "I know that the armed forces are dangerous and all, but you understand because you've always wanted to be in them, yourself.  Are you still keeping up with your exercises, by the way?"

"My... exercises?  I haven't had the time."  The scientist checked his schedule.  "I guess I should."

Exercises were the least of my worries.  What I really should have done was notice right there that the purpose of my life, Ferishi, was miserable.  My inability to understand her to this day was what led to her loss.

"Senoh thinks that Shadowlaw and Sir Bison are evil, too?  Sheesh."

"He considers himself to be an evil mad scientist.  As such, he needs to work for an evil organization.  It's what evil old mad scientists do."

"But Sir Bison isn't evil!  He's just misunderstood."

"Well, he certainly can be evil sometimes whenever he yells at us scientists for not getting godly results in our projects, but the overall goal isn't evil."

"I know!  That's what I keep trying to tell everyone!  But they never listen.  It's almost as bad as how the greatest commander in the world besides Sir Bison is practically viewed by history as the devil incarnate.  He would be seen as the devil incarnate, but Stalin got the honour of that title.  Course, Stalin was an idiot unlike that guy."

"Hmm... I know who you're talking about.  I found it interesting that most people from his country later on were so quick to view it as evil."

"All he was trying to do was bring the world into a new unified and purified age, sorta like what Sir Bison's goals.  Okay, so a whole lot of people died.  That wasn't very good.  And it definately was a really big waste of perfectly good labor.  But that just makes him foolish.  It doesn't make him evil."

"Just a means to an end?"

"Yea, that's the term for it.  You know about this?"

"I was also greatly interested in history, not just science.  I come from a nation which did practically the same thing, resulting in the death of millions.  But it was deleted from the history books.  We have had to pay no reparations, make no apologies, or get forever tagged by the books as an evil nation during a period of history."

"It's all just a misunderstanding.  A misunderstanding of history."

"Evil is only evil in the eyes of the beholder.  Because an American commander decided not to bring the facts of what happened to the public, we were able to get away with it."

"I keep trying to tell Juli that. About how Shadowlaw's only evil because everyone thinks it is, but she won't listen."

"I believe I know why."

"Oh?  Now that I think about it, I never asked her why she felt that way."

"Don't tell her that I told you this or even that you know this now, or she might be suspicious about what I did.  I took the liberty of looking into her background files.  She's a Native American, you know."

"Huh?  Really?  I thought she was caucasian, like I was."

"Well, she is, but she does have some Native-American members in her family tree, too.  I suppose that's why she's supposedly such good friends with Desire, now."

"Oh.  But how does that explain anything?"

"Think about it.  Three countries, all responsible for a mass slaughter of a race.  One was viewed as evil, one wasn't viewed as either, and one..."

"Is now viewed as the avatar of good?  Wow, I never knew Juli felt that way."

"So you'd see that it was only natural that Juli would have beliefs about things being evil.  She just doesn't mind it, I imagine."

"Well, I suppose it's all right.  She knows that Lord Bison's goals are for the best, whether they're evil or not.  As proof of his authenticity, not that he needs it, he even has the great weapons that my favorite commander in history used."

"Weapons?"

"You didn't hear?  About the Spear of Longinus and the Holy Grail?  The Spear and Cup are symbolic of the next commander's right of passage."

"........"

"Are you okay, Bremare?"

"What?"

"You were mumbling something about the silliness of Freud and how Irvine must have gotten into doll programming or something."

"Oh, oops.  Sorry, I was just spacing out for a moment there."

"You don't like Freud?  My favorite commander in history, besides Lord Bison, of course, was heavily into Freud."

"But I thought that the 'great commander' hated Freud.  He called it propaganda from the very race he was trying to destroy."

"Oh, he hated that race he was trying to destroy, too.  That's pretty obvious by the mass genocide.  But he was in fact of that race, wasn't he?  Just as he hated that race to be in denial about his racial heritage, he despised Freud as he was in denial about his true feelings and nature.  But... deep down inside, he knew.  And that's what's so tragic about it all.  He killed himself after he lost his cup and spear, you know.  Erm, that is, the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus.  It's really quite sad.  The 'good guys' brought an end to spring time.  Sir Bison won't make that mistake."

"Ah... now we're back to M. Bison again.  Well, like I said, he's much more suited to this than I am, that's for sure.  I'm nothing more than a screw-up, it seems."

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't finish telling you about what happened to Ferishi."

"Yea, whatever did happen to her?  I don't recall ever seeing a Ferishi around."

"That.... as it is, I'm about to get to that part.  The part that made me so hesitant to tell you or Juli about this story in the first place.  But I suppose it's time I finally tell someone.  To tell someone about how... how I lost Ferishi.  How I lost the one thing that I cherished in my life."

"They didn't let her into the armed forces, Dr. Masterson."  Bremare sighed.  "Eric, I don't know what to do.  I feel sorry for her.  For dragging her into all of this."

"That was Ferishi?"  The other scientist who was about the same age as Yamoto was surprised.  "Oh yea, I remember her.  She wanted to be a weapons specialist in a new super soldier unit that we were putting together.  But she's... not the type we're looking for, really.  And we already sorta have a martial weapons specialist leading the unit.  Besides, erm, you really wouldn't want her to join this type of unit.  I'm surprised she found out about it."

"I recommended to Ferishi that she use those custodial duties to do some investigating."  Bremare shrugged.

"Are you nuts?!?"  Eric snapped.  "Do you think Shadowlaw LIKES its custodians to poke around all of its data files and science reports?"

"I don't think they mind.  Jen-Ya seems to know the head custodian pretty well.  Well enough to assign him Ferishi as his apprentice."

"Jen-Ya?"  Eric paused for a moment.  "Oh.  Her.  I think I know who you're talking about.  Why don't you and Ferishi talk to her about it if it's bothering you so much?"

It sounded like good advice at the time.  I didn't know why Ferishi and Jen-Ya played such... serious pranks on each other, but I suppose reasoning this out with Jen-Ya was the most logical solution.  Ferishi and I found her while she was out on a meditative break of some sorts.

Bremare and Ferishi walked into the beautiful domed garden.  Beautiful flower beds were all over the place, and several birds perched nearby in the artificial sanctuary of nature.  In the field dressed in her Oriental priestess garb, Jen-Ya was simply meditating as the two approached her.

"Ferishi, these are private grounds."  She muttered, not turning around to look at them.

"Indoor birds?"  Ferishi glanced around.  "Jen-Ya, you're wierd."

"I'd have a cat, too, but they sadly don't get along with the birds too well here."  Jen-Ya explained.

"Oh."  Ferishi remarked.  She didn't understand Jen-Ya at all though, and neither did Bremare.  "Aaaah... anyway, we need to talk.  I think you can stop with the joking around now.  This custodial work is stupid."

"Our feathered friends aren't very happy with you, Ferishi."  Jen-Ya remarked.  "Still, I suppose that this is a good opportunity for me to see if I can make you get along with them."

Bremare and Ferishi both stared and had the same confused reply.  "Huh?"

"I don't see why you had to bring Dr. Yamoto along, though."  The priestess continued.  "This is a private matter."

Ferishi glanced over at her fiance.  Bremare nodded.  "Well... if it'll fix things.  You two know each other, anyway.  I really shouldn't be interupting you two and sticking my nose where it doesn't belong."

I'm not sure whether I did belong there or not, but whatever the two talked about, they came upon an agreement.  So it was within the same day that Ferishi happily told me that she was to be a secret agent for Shadowlaw.  I should have been ecstatic, what with me being a big fan of James Bond type movies and spy or stealth espionage video games, which was why I took those martial training sessions that first led me to meet Ferishi again so long ago.  But like I already told you, Ferishi became first priority in my life.  Thus little things like my interest in spies, martial arts, and even the greater good of Shadowlaw took a back seat to her safety.

"This... really isn't very safe, Ferishi."  Bremare stuttered.  "If something were to happen, what would I do without you?"

Ferishi hugged him.  "Bremare, don't worry!  I'm skilled enough to know what I'm doing.  You wanted me to be happy, right?  You know how much I enjoy skilled swordplay and weapons assassination."

"Yea... if it makes you happy... but..."

"Don't worry about it, Bremare."  Ferishi smiled at him.  "Jen-Ya has something very special which will make sure I can handle anything."

"If... if you say so."

"Thanks!"  Ferishi kissed him on the cheek.  "Bremare, I need to get going.  My first mission sounds like a really simple one.  I've done much harder things while I was trying to get initiated into the Third Eye!  Don't worry about me."

With that, she ran off, leaving Bremare to talk to himself.

"But... but Ferishi, what about...  me?"

What about me, indeed.  I should have been worrying about her.  I should have looked after her more.  But everything seemed all right after that first mission.  Things seemed great once again.  I was happy.  Ferishi was happy.  Everyone was happy.  Or so I thought.  But Ferishi really wasn't happy.  I don't know what happened to her on her missions, but things gradually began to change.

"I'm having a little trouble getting it to work right..."  Bremare remarked as he took another sip of wine.

"You need to concentrate more."  Ferishi remarked.  "Ah... today, I had to kill another person."

"Oh?"  Bremare glanced at her. "I hope that all of this death you're going through doesn't..."

"Hmph."  Ferishi turned around and put the glass down.  "It's no problem.  You're the one who needs to worry about your line of work.  Not me."

"Well, okay then..."

It was a downward spiral.  But I didn't even see it.  Maybe I just didn't want to.

The scientist stopped her on her way out.  She rolled her eyes.  "Ugh, Bremare, what is it this time."

"Ferishi, are you going out again?  I'm worried about you."

"You're always worried about me, Bremare."  Ferishi frowned.  "It's starting to get annoying.  Look, if you wanted to live your own little wish-fulfillment dream of being a secret agent, you should have practiced harder with your training instead of trying to live it through me."

"Ferishi, you know I couldn't do that."  A somewhat perplexed Bremare replied.  "My studies..."

"Your studies are falling behind, too."  Ferishi snapped.  "The entire damn Shadaloo science department isn't working well enough.  Now if you mind, I have a mission to do."

I don't know what happened.  I don't know what went wrong.  I knew something was wrong.  But I couldn't understand or figure out what.  And thus I believe that whatever was wrong was my fault.  Even if it wasn't, it was still my fault for not realizing what was wrong before it was too late.  Things only became worse.

"You can't even figure out the right equation?"

"Ferishi, I've been working on this problem all night.  I'm doing my best."

"Your best isn't good enough!"  She scowled.  "Do any of you stupid scientists know what your failure is doing to us?"

"No, I don't know!"  Bremare yelled back.  "And I damn well believe that it is doing nothing to you, too!"

Ferishi was quite surprised at Bremare yelling back.  She was stunned for a brief moment, before she finally frowned and slapped Dr. Yamoto hard across the face.

"You... Dr. Yamoto, are an ignorant moron!"  Ferishi glared at him.  "Don't ever talk to me like that about things which you have no clue about, again."

She left the room with the doctor watching her leave.  Bremare would have been really freaked out, had he not been too broken-hearted to notice.

Was it the stress?  The stress of killing?  The stress of having death forever following her, waiting for the right moment to take her into its open arms?  I should have done something sooner.  If I had talked to her about it earlier, maybe I could have changed things.  But by the time I tried to do something, it only made things worse.  It made me... responsible for the final tragedy that resulted.

"You're worthless!"  He could hear Ferishi's voice from across the hall as she yelled at another person unlucky enough to annoy her.  "Everyone is.  If Shadaloo wasn't filled with such a large array of idiots, morons, and lazy fools like you or the gimps in their science department, Lord Bison would have had the world in the palm of his hand by now.  Poor poor Bison.  How does he put up with idiots like you two?  This man here... he is just as worthless as you.  Nothing good will ever become of both of you.  Ever!"

He knew that Ferishi was pointing to him when she said that.

"Bremare no baka!!!"  Ferishi angrily shoved Bremare out of the way as she walked down the hall.  "Out of the way!  I have orders to do for Lord Bison, and I don't need anymore of you damn incompetants to get in my way."

"Ferishi..."  Bremare stared at her as she was leaving.

She paused and turned around.  "Are you still here?  Haven't I told you to stop calling me that?"

"What happened, Ferishi?"  The young man pleaded.  "Where did things go wrong?"

"Things went wrong when you failed to do your job."  The agent remarked.  "When the entire Shadowlaw science department failed.  When everyone failed.  You are all worthless."

"Is... is that it?"  Bremare stuttered.  "So it has to be like this because we are 'worthless?'  I can't bring myself to accept that, Ferishi.  Nothing has changed about me, yet we used to... we were... you were everything to me.  What happened?"

Ferishi paused... unable to figure out how to respond.  "Dr. Yamoto, you were... you became..."

"I don't remember becoming anything."  He interrupted.  "Why would I have, when my life was perfect?  My life became perfect ever since you came along until... until you changed."

"Bremare, I..."  Ferishi closed her eyes, then grabbed Bremare, hugged him, and began crying.  "I'm so sorry, Bremare!"

Bremare stared at her.  "Ferishi..."

"I... I don't know what's happening."  Ferishi continued sobbing.  "Everything... everything became... I feel... that I can't... I don't know!!"

"It doesn't have to be like this anymore."  He hugged her back.  "You know that..."

"No, it has to!  You don't understand... I don't understand why..."  She let go of him and backed away.  "I'm... sorry, Bremare.  I don't know what's happening to me anymore.  But I have to... I have to go now... my mission is all that can matter to me now."

"Ferishi!  Don't!!"  Bremare cried out to her as she ran away, but she didn't stop at all.  "Please.... come back..."

She never came back.  That was the last I ever saw of Ferishi.  Whether our talk left her too emotionally unstable, whether the mission she went on was too dangerous, or whether she just lost the will... I don't know.  But Ferishi never returned from that mission.  All that returned was the outer shell of a memory.  A broken wing, with which the bird would never be able to fly with, again.  It was a memory of a time when my life... was perfect...

"Bremare... I... didn't know."  Juni stared into his eyes.  "I... I'm so sorry."

"No, it's okay."  Bremare remarked as he put the wine bottle away back into the cabinets of the darkened candlelit room.  "I feel better now.  Like I said, I had to talk to someone about it."

"T... That's good..."  Juni slowly remarked, the story still looming in her memory.

Bremare looked at his watch.  "Oh, I'm sorry, Juni, I guess I've been holding you up with my silly story.  You'd better get going or people might start to wonder where you went.  The same would go for me, it appears.  There's always something to do."

"I don't think it was a silly story."  Juni commented as she stood up from her seat.  "Thank you for telling me this, Bremare.  I appreciate it."

"Thank you for listening."  Bremare opened up the door.  "Well, we'd better get going then."

"Good bye, Bremare!"  Juni happily saluted before leaving the room.

Bremare nodded back as she left.  She went back to her room, thinking... even as she opened the door.  So much that she didn't notice a certain red short-haired agent standing in the side of the room as she entered it.

"What were you doing?"

"Eeep!"  Juni quickly turned to look at her.  "Oh, Avelle.  Huh?  How'd you get here?"

"Trade secret, darling."  Avelle closed her eyes and smiled.  "I came to look after you, myself.  Couldn't just let the science department go around and get you into trouble, could I?  But I saw you exit that lab there.  Is something wrong?"

"Huh?  Oh.  I was just having a talk with my friend, Bremare."

"Bremare?"  Her interest perking up, Avelle opened her eyes, still smiling.

"Oh yes, Dr. Yamoto."  Juni replied.

"Hmm hmm... ah, your friend from the science department."  Avelle muttered.  "Well, you know, I saw the way he was looking at you.  He really likes you, dear."

"R... really?"

"Of course, darling.  I can see it in his eyes."  The ex-agent grinned.  "With enough experience, it's very easy to notice when a man has fallen for your charms.  You know, dear, you should take advantage of this.  There are many benefits which can come from having a member of the Science Shadowlaw Department know who his real interests lie with."

"You... you want me to take advantage of him?"  Juni blinked.

Avelle stared at her.  "Of course, dear.  Why not?  The opportunity is there."

"I... I'm sorry, Avelle.  I don't think I can do that."

"Oh?  Why not?"

"Because I..."

I think I'm in love with Dr. Bremare Yamoto.